Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
Hi All, I bought a new pair of ESS AMT-1A floor standing tower speakers in 1974 for $1300 + tax.. After auditioning many high-end speakers, I chose the ESS over everything else, even at twice the money! The blind fold test really did it for me, it was astonishing! 35 years old and still going strong, I've become spoiled listening to them. I recently acquired some Infinity reference monitors with the Emit tweeter { a direct copy of the heil technology } and they sound very good, but not quite as good as my babies. About 3 weeks ago I decided to test the market and put them up for sale on CAM {Canuck Audio Mart} for $800. Upon reading all 81 reviews from fellow audiologists, and with no solid offers, I've decide to keep them. I would have sold them, so to all who looked at them and didn't offer: TOO BAD! Bruce @ Eartheye Electronics

Longhorn Saloon

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 1.00 votes

Price Paid:  $600.00 from U.S. Army - Manheim,

Summary:
While stationed in Germany in 1980, I purchased a pair of ESS Amt Monitor speakers. I still own them to this day. While at a U.S. Army HiFi store in Manhiem, Germany (1980) looking at cassette decks, I had heard different speakers being selected from customers in the adjacent "High-End Speaker" listening room. All of a sudden, I heard the most crystal clear musical sound emitting from the speaker room. I immediately ran into the speaker room and asked the attendant which speakers were being played. He said they were the ESS Amt 1b (Pyramid Style). I asked him if they were the flagship, top-of-the-line of that particular brand (ESS). He said no, the ESS Amt Monitor was the flagship model. I then asked him to play the ESS Amt Monitor for comparison. They were simply breathtaking in clarity, unparalled highs and earthshaking bass. The only other brand speaker that could even come close to comparison was the Klipsch "LaScala"; but it emitted an annoying wood-knocking thump sound during heavy bass. Needless to say, I bought a pair of the ESS Amt Monitors on the spot. At the same time, I purchased the famous Pioneer SX-1980 receiver (270 watts x 2) and it still powers the ESS Amt Monitors in a bi-amp set-up in my home theater today. Since my purchase in 1980, I have listened to countless other brand speakers. The only current-day speakers that can even compare to the ESS Amt Monitor is the flagship model produced by Martin-Logan (Summit model), with the additional support from an out-board powered subwoofer. Given a blind-fold test, 100% agree the ESS Amt Monitor is simply the best speaker they have ever heard, period. No other speaker has ever been produced that replicates the actual sound of the musical instruments and vocals as the ESS Amt Monitor. It is simply the Mount Everest among esoteric loudspeakers. As the original advertisement said-- "Sound As Clear As Light!" If my house ever catches on fire; after everybody gets out, my next priority will be to save my pair of ESS Amt Monitors-- they are that incredible! E-mail any questions/comments to: bdgreer1@msn.com

Strengths:
Beautiful elegant hardwood cabinets. Flawless craftmanship. Immpecable sound reproduction beyond the range of the human ear, in both highs and lows. Smooth transitional bandwidth with crystal clear highs, smooth midrange, earth-shaking bass. High power amp cabability (400 watt max per speaker). Factory bi-amp speaker inputs, along with normal full-range speaker inputs. Simply the best sounding loudspeaker ever produced. If you already own a pair, you won't ever sell them (at any price). If you ever audition them, you'll want to buy them (at any price). Best advice-- find a friend who owns a pair of ESS Amt Monitors and become his "best friend".

Weaknesses:
Big and Bulky (if you call that a weakness). Extremely heavy. 2-man lift required to move. Do not attempt to move speakers alone by yourself without risk of personal injury and/or hernia. Prior planning required before actual placement; not the type of speaker to be moved on a whem. Once speakers have been set in their permanent locations; do not plan to move speakers again, unless the house is on fire! Extremely rare to find for sale at any price-- people who already have them, won't sell them. Lastly, do not let kitty cats near the speaker grills, as they would love to sharpen their claws on them. Ownership of ESS Amt Monitors is the main reason I have never owned a cat.

Similar Products Used:
The ESS Amt Monitors have been compared in personal listening tests to Klipschorn "Corner" Speakers, Klipsch "LaScala", and flagship Martin-Logan "Summit" electrostatic speakers. Listening tests were conducted with the use of blind-folds; or listener had his back towards speakers, so only the actual speaker sound could be judged (with no visual impression). Competing speakers had difficulty without the support of an out-board powered subwoofer.

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John Hardin

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
4.60 of 5, 5.00 votes

Price Paid:  $300.00 from Ebay

Summary:
I have owned the AMT 1, and the Concept line version of the AMT 1.
Heil Tower transmission lines are my latest foray into the Heil Airmotion line. They are by far the best so far. The transmission line bass is natural and is not exagerated at any frequency. I have managed to aquire three of them for use in my home theater. I am using smaller bookshelf versions for the rears and sides. All surround speakers have full size heils in them as well as PS 5 tweeters on top of them. I have replaced the 10 inch bass drivers in all the speakers inclucing the surrounds with Neodymium morel 10 inch woofers. These woofers are fast! And Natural! WAYYyyyy more punch. With the 3 inch Hexatech voicecoils the problem of the fast tweeter-slow woofer is solved for the Heils! Replaced all crossover compnents with with modern foil inductors, poly caps, and metal resistors. I am using 4 great heils per tower in series/parralel, and running them from their former crossover point of 1000hz down to 500 hz with 18db slope. Rolling woofers off at 450 12 db slope. Using Heil PS5 tweeters with a 1 mf poly cap to compensate for the 12000 rolloff of the heils. (yes, they do roll off at 12000 hz!!!) The small heil tweeter functions as a super tweeter and adds even MORE air to the already detailed heils. They will easily go to 30K. I don't know, I can't hear that high and can't measure that high either. Now, the heils handle most of the midrange, some of the mid bass and have a fast enough woofer to make the midrange as detailed as the rest of the frequency range handled by the Heils. With the addition of a subwoofer, the sonic illusion is complete. In listening, the differences are: No loss of midrange clarity at higher volume levels. A bongo drum now stands out in three dimensions like a bell or triangle does in the heils. Bass drum kicks slap you with the speed, Tom tom drums are right in the room with you. Vocals are totally natural and uncolored, with no muddiness from a woofer trying to produce a voice. Choral voices are even more distinct and detailed with the ability to pick out individual voices from the mass. Bass extends even lower with the Morel's 28 hz resonant frequency. The Towers now easily reproduce the 32 hz organ from 2001 soundtrack. Bass Fiddle is totally real. With the new foil inductors and caps, there is no more listener fatigue. You tend to play them at lower volume levels because the detail is all there now. It was never the Heils that was causing the fatigue, it was the woofers and crossovers. I can't tell you all the new annoyances now. The poor quality in the recordings. The background noises from the studio. The funny echoes in the recording studio, bad microphones, etc. On one Nora Jones recording, I can even hear the click-track the recording studio mixed into one of their tracks! I have heard most of the best top of the line speakers. Never have I heard anything like this before. Unless some new totally massless transducer technology comes along that is smaller, more efficent, more natural and inherently better, I will now stop my quest for a better speaker system. It doesn't exist. Even the new line source ribbon speakers, which are really great, still don't match the detail in the bass, midrange, and highs that these Heil airmotion tweeters going down to 500hz with morel woofers in a T-line do. As far as home theater goes, I can't even go to the local movie theater anymore with being distracted by the lack of detail in the sound system. I am SSOOOo spoiled now. I have been a musician all my life, playing woodwinds professionally. I KNOW what instruments sound like. The bite of a tenor sax reed on a metal mouthpiece, the creak of the wood in a basse fiddle or cello, the various noises an orchestra makes, the slap of the pads on a flute, all things that are not really part of the music, but ARE part of the performance, are able to be heard when your Heils are properly set up. I understand that now the ESS factory has been bought out and is transferring manufacturing to Germany. This is sad, but in a way, exciting also. It's going to be interesting to see where German engineering is going to take this neglected Heil technology to in the future.

Strengths:
Bongo drums! REAL REAL REAL Let's the wife know where she is on the pecking order.

Weaknesses:
HUH? Pretty big speakers. 0 wife acceptance factor. She better never say "Either these go or I go!" She was a good wife...

Similar Products Used:
AR 2ax Ess AMT 1. Sonys with leaf tweeters. Magnapans. Martin Logans.
Speakerlab. K-horns

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philpot

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
Less than 1 month

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 1.00 votes

Price Paid:  $440.00 from E bay

Summary:
About a year ago I found a set of PS 8 ESS speakers on the side of the road ( council colection day ) and used the tweeters in them in a set of my own making. The tweeters hang on springs to eliminate the problem of vibration from the bass driver. I have 2 x 4 in midrange from 300 hz to about 2.5 Khz and a Kevlar 10 in from 250 hz down. The 2 x 4 in midrange are in a 90 degree elbow sewage pipe bend so that they have good dispersion. This pipe cabinet is isolated from the bass driver using old japanese turntable feet.The bottom cabinet is an old AR 2A cabinet that got given to me with a 10in Kevlar subwoofer ( car sub ). As the tweeters and original crossovers are configured for 4 ohm drivers this works out. The two mids are in parallel and the sub is a 4 ohm driver. The crosover is encased in a separate box to eliminate vibration effects. The bass crossover is in the bass cabinet. This is all mounted on stds about 300mm high.The total height is about 1.5 metres. These speakers are fabulous. I also have a pair of AMT 1 A speakers. Junk the original bass drivers and go out and buy a car subwoofer 4 ohm driver with a big magnet and a cast alloy frame. Use your judgement and choose a driver that best suits what you want. Paper driver for dynamics, Poly driver for upper midrange capability or a kevlar for both. ( Some paper drivers work fantastic ) The sound compared to my other speakers is perhaps more fluid as the mid from the ESS tweeter has a wonderful etheral quality which never fails to please. However the tweeter from the PS 8A has more bite and I suspect has more to offer when played louder- especially in a full 3 way system. Also the 2 x 4 in drivers in the speaker have great transient response and perhaps have more depth in the lower mid area. I cannot recommend these speakers/tweeters more and to existing owners - you need to look at car 10 and 12 in drivers that are flooding the market at ridiculous prices. A lot of them have excellent characteristics that blend well with the ESS sound. Choose carefully and don't worry about the garish colours that some are. Sometimes the best alternatives are sometimes right in front of you. System used Pioneer Spec 2 ( new caps all the way thru and minor rewire ) Arcam 9 preamp Marantz CD 94 MK II Yamaha CDR-HD 1000 cd burner and used as dac. Kenwood KD 500 with rega 300 arm Craft phono stage

Strengths:
Sweet etheral highs and fabulous stereo effect from bipolar drivers.

Weaknesses:
Original bass drivers always lousy.

Similar Products Used:
Kef transmission line speakers using 8 drivers in each cabinet. 25 cu foot cabinet and weighs about 100 kg per cabinet. Sold to replace with ESS

genmsn33

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 4 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
1.00 of 5, 1.00 votes

Price Paid:  $400.00 from Midwest HiFi (Dallas

Summary:
I've owned, and continuously used, my AMT-1 Towers since the Fall of 1974. I've looked, listened, and considered many speakers in the intervening years and cannot find anything to match their clarity and low distortion. My wife and bought them new after reviewing every speaker at every upscale audio shop we could find in Dallas, TX. Of all the speakers we auditioned none could match the clarity and low distortion of these speakers. There was only one other speaker that I could have chosen at that time, and that was the higher end ESS Rock Monitor, which was quite similar to the AMT-1 tower except for the fact it had two 10" drivers and let them handle the bass and the mid-range. The ESS AMT-1 Tower relies on the Heil Air Motion Transformer for the mid-range as well as the high-end, which is its major strength. Why didn't I go with the Rock Monitor? I couldn't justify the higher price for the moderate performance boost it offered (after all, we were young and had just enjoyed the birth of our first son). Bottom Line: the AMT-1 Tower was, and is, a terrific speaker. Why do I mention distortion? Well, listen to applause or violins in their upper register on any speaker of interest. If the applause sounds "fuzzy" or the violins just don't sound pure or sound "edgy", you have just discovered a key limitation that many speakers share. You will not hear any such distortion when auditioning a speaker with the ESS Heil Air Motion Tranformer. So what about the low-end? The Tower does an admirable job with its 10" driver in conjunction with its tuned port. Watching a DVD movie with these speakers is literally a moving experience. Yet the sound is natural -- no sign of boom or tubbiness here. Bass guitar, bass fiddle, typani, and organ all come through well. The only caveat to this last statement is when playing the organ pedal note in the opening of "Also sprach Zarathustra (Thus Spoke Zoroaster), tone poem for orchestra, Op. 30"; I do have to crank the volume a bit for this one. But, after all, it is a 32Hz tone. Bottom Line: A great speaker with clarity and low distortion. Admirable.

Strengths:
Clarity. Low distortion. Efficient (i.e., I choose to fuse my pair with an AGC1, and my ears hurt by the time the fuse blows).

Weaknesses:
You may want a sub-woofer if you're into low organ pedal notes. Otherwise, none.

Similar Products Used:
Klipsch, Bose, Advent, Magneplanar